Improvement intake-ups of circular-knitting machines



PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL WARD,

OF AMSTERDAM, ASSIGNOR TO GEORGE CAMPBELL AND JOHN CLUTE, oEooHoEs, NEW YORK.

miniovimnu'v rw Ar.r/i'i i:'uPs or CIRCULAR-minne MACHINES.

Spccilieation forming part of Leiters Patent No. 4l,4 l5, dated January 2li, 18:24.

o @ZZ whom it may concern .f V

Be known that I, SAMUELWARD, of Amstel-dam, in the county of Montgomery and` State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Take-Ups of' Girular- Knitt'iug Machines; and I d o hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the saine, reference bef-Y ing had tothe aceompaning drawings, forming part of this specification, in which* Y Figure 1 isaside view of the take-np. Fig. 2- is a central vertical section of the same at right angles to Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a plan of a portion of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corrcspondingparts in the several figures.

This invention relates to the take up of that class of circularlmitting machines in which the needle-plate or needle-ring'has a rotary motion about its axis; and it consists in certain means of controlling the operation of such a take-np by the tension of the knitted goods, whereby all parts of a piece of goods are made uniformly oi' any desired texture o r tightness.

To enable others skilled in the art to make `and use my invention, I will proceed to de- C c is a frame arranged to swing` within thel frame A a upon twohorizontal pivots, d d, by `which it is attached to the sides thereof. The frame C c contains the pair of take-up rolls D D and thecloth roll E, to which the goods are delivered by the take-up rolls as fast as knitted. The take-up rolls D D aregeared together by gears e e at one end,and D is furnished at its opposite end with a ratchetwheel, f, to which there Ais applied a stoppawl, f. One of the two lower'rails, c, of

the frame C c is connected with the frameAaby the upper arms of two elbow-levers, I I, one on each side, the said levers having for their fulcrum the lower rail, a, of the latter frame, and the lower arms of said levers being connected by two springs, g-one for eachwith the upper part of the frame, and the due-e thetakc-up movement.

said springs and levers tend to draw or press the framel C c in the direction of the arrow shown near the 'lower part of thesaid frame in Fig. 2, so that the knitted goodsin passing` from the lower rail, a, of the frame A a to the .lower take-up roll, D', will be bcnt'over the said rail a in the manner shown in the aboveinentioned ligure in red color.

' On the topvof the frame A a there is ar' ranged parallel with the rolls, and in suitable bearings, l1, h, a thrcearmed rock-shaft, i, from one arm,j, ot' which is suspended a long pawl, k, which acts upon the ratchet-wheel f to pro- Anoth'er arm, l, is furnished with a roller, l', which works in -contact with a stationary cam, Eseeured to the standard B, and surrounding the learing of the journal b, thel object of such cam being to produce the action of' the pawl upon the rratchet-whcel by the rotary motion of the frames- Ac C c with the knitting-machine.

A' a by a spring, n, which keeps the roller Z in Contact with the cam E, and which draws up the pawl after it hasbeen depressed by the cam to act upon the rathet-wheelf. The pawl is connected with the arm m'by-means of a spring, p, which draws its point toward the ratchet-wheel. The lower part .of the pawl, a little above its point, is made with a shoulder, 4, to operate iu the manner which will be presently explained, in combination fulcrum, r, in an angle-plate, F, which is se cured to the frame A a. Fig. 3 is a top view of this plate andlover. The upper part of the saidlever, which is situated on thc inner siderof the pawl, works over aslot, s, provided in the angle-plate F, as shown in Fig. 3, for the pawl to work through, and a light spring, t,.is applied to the lever q to draw it toward the pawl; but this spring must not be strong enough to overcome the effect of the spring p.

follows: As the frame A (c and other parts of the take-up rotate with the knitting-machine the rock-shaft z' and pawl 7c derive a regular movement from the cam-E; but the pawl is inoperative on the ratchet-wheel while the quantity of goods between the bar a and the take-up` rolls is so small that the frameCis mot permitted to move so far in the. directiol The third arm, m, is connected with the frame with a bent stop-lever, q, which works on a The operation of taking up the goods is as y fixed stop, a, scoured in the plate F.

'of the arrow shown in Fifn2- as to allow the ratchet-wheel j' to come within reach of the pawlk, whiell cannot follow up the ratchet# wheel farther than permitted by the stopdever g, which is held by the spring t against a As the knitting prooeeds and the quantity between the bar a and the -take-up rolls increases the springs g and levers I cause the frame Gc to move in the direction of the arrowishown. in Fig. 2, and so ailonr the ratehetwheel te npproaeh the pawl 7s till the latter is capable of operating upon it, and the take-up rolls-are then set in operation to the extent ef' one or more teeth of the ratchet-wheel. The action of the take-up rolls, by reducing the quanti-ty of `goods between the bar a and the said rolls, draws the frame baek in the opposite direction to the arrow shown in Fig. 2, and in soy doing draws the ratchet-wheel to such a position that the pawl becomes inoperative. Just b fore the ratchet-wheel passes out of Contact with lthe pawl the latter in following` up the said wheel comes in Contact with the stoplever q, and on its next downward movement produc-ed by the cam E the shoulder 4, after passi ng said lever, slips under it, and is there- Y by prevented from rising, and in thisl way it is made inoperative sooner than itwonld be if the ratchet-wheel had to move direetl y back ltill the pawl eleared it. The objeet'of this stopi'ever is to prevent the pawl from Jeatehin g on a tooth of the ratel1et-v.'lieel, moving it a short distance, and then slipping oii and letting back she takelup rolls. The takeup' is secured by lhe pawl'f. rllhe pawl K remains locked by he stop-lover 1], whieh also' holds down the n'm Z, with its roller l in such position that he cam E does not operate upon ituntil byhe movemeni of the I'rame Ce in the. dirne tion ofthe arrow shown in Fig. 2 the ratchetwheel is allowed to come in eontaetwith the Apawl and push it back 'clear vl'rom the stop-l lover Vj, when the operation of the take-up again eommenoes'.

In the above operation the tension of the goods is perfect] y uniform, being governed hy the springs g, and although the amount taken up and the openness or closeness of the work may be varied by adjusting the said springs to produce a greater or less tension, the uniformity of the take-up does not depend directly upon the tension, as the take-up rolls eem.- menee and eens'e their operation according as the quanti-ty ol' goods between the bar a and take-np rolls increases or diminishes. The taking of the goods from the machine may be said to be effected by the swinging movement of the fra-me C c under the iniluenee of the springs g, and the {ako-up rolls merely to eolleet it and roll it up after it has been so taken up. o

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The arrangement of the take-up rolls in a fraine(J` c, which is arrangod'toswing within the rotating frame Av a under the control ol' springs g, and levers l. or their equivalents,

Sul'istantially as and for the purpose herein specified.

2. The pawl I, and. stoplever (1 applied in combination with eachA oth'eriand with the ratehelixvheel frames (i o and AA (1 and sta 

